212 WADING BIRDS. 



bird, now before us, his transient visit, which deUghted us, has 

 ended; but his migration, no longer to be postponed, has 

 exceeded the bounds of the earth, and spring and autumn, 

 with their wandering hosts of flitting birds, may still return, 

 while he, translated to the Elysian groves, will only be remem- 

 bered in the thrill of the plaintive nightingale. 



Wilson's Phalarope, unlike the preceding, has no predilec- 

 tion for the ultimate range of the Arctic Circle, confining its 

 residence, consequently, to the shores of America; it is un- 

 known in summer beyond the 55 th parallel, passing the period 

 of reproduction on the plains of the Saskatchewan, being also 

 a stranger to the coasts of Hudson Bay. Taking the interior 

 of the continent for its abode, it is not uncommon on the 

 borders of lakes in the vicinity of the city of Mexico. 



From the structure of its legs and feet this remarkable 

 species, so distinct from the others, appears more suited for a 

 wading or walking than an eminent swimming bird. In the 

 United States it can only be considered as a straggler, of which 

 a specimen has been obtained near Philadelphia in May, and 

 another in the State of New York. As yet we have never met 

 with it in this vicinity. 



The " Swimming Sandpiper," as this bird has been called, — a 

 name that describes it precisely, — is restricted chiefly to the inte- 

 rior, though stragglers have been taken on the shores of New Eng- 

 land and the Provinces. It is now known to breed abundantly in 

 Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Dakota, and northward to the 

 Saskatchewan valley. In winter the flocks range to Brazil and 

 Patagonia. 



In habits the bird more closely resembles the Sandpipers than 

 does its congeners, seldom swimming except when wounded, and 

 wading knee-deep to glean its food. The female, however, with 

 true Phalaropian scorn for the proprieties, manages her courtship, 

 — and manages too her reluctant lover, — and after a brief — very 

 brief — honeymoon, she resigns charge of domestic arrangements 

 to her henpecked partner, who meekly sits on the eggs until they 

 are hatched. 



